CHARDON, Ohio -- Convicted Chardon High School shooter T.J. Lane mocked his victims Tuesday, wearing a T-shirt with the word "Killer" on it, swearing and flipping his middle finger to their parents and families minutes before a judge sentenced him to three consecutive life terms in prison without parole.

Lane turned to a packed gallery in Geauga County Common Pleas Court and offered a brief, irreverent statement: "The hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory. F--- all of you."

The parents of his victims, like others in the courtroom, sat in shock. Lane's attorney, Ian Friedman, shook his head in disgust. Some members of the victims' families cried.

Then the parents fired back.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a human being. In fact, you're not even human. You're a monster. You're a weak, pathetic, vile, coward," said Dina Parmertor, mother of slain victim Daniel. She stood at a podium about 20 feet from Lane and demanded a harsh sentence for Lane.

"You're really lucky there are so many police in this room," said Holly Walczak, during her turn to make remarks. "You can smile all you want," she told the smirking Lane.

About a dozen police and sheriff deputies were in the courtroom, and several stood around the 18-year-old Lane throughout the hour-long sentencing.

Walczak's son, Nick, is in a wheelchair because of injuries he suffered in the shootings. Holly Walczak said her son had attempted to befriend Lane before the shooting because Nick felt sorry for him. Nick was a few feet away from his mother as she spoke.

Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz also took a turn blasting Lane. "What we're dealing with is a disgusting human being. He still refuses to offer any explanation for why he did this. The only explanation I can offer the court is he is an evil person."

Flaiz said Lane planned his attack carefully.

During the hearing, Lane acted childlike. He appeared to beam in the face of the families, and smirked and posed for a newspaper photographer. His demeanor was in stark contrast to that of the youth who seemed timid and emotionless during a year of court proceedings.

Lane pleaded guilty Feb. 26 to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault for the shooting rampage at Chardon High School that shined an unwanted spotlight on a rural school district and plunged it into the political donnybrook of gun control.

The guilty pleas came one day before the one-year mark of the shootings. Killed were Parmertor, 16; Demetrius Hewlin, 16; and Russell King Jr., 17. Walczak, Nate Mueller and Joy Rickers were wounded. Nate and Joy were treated and released shortly after the shootings.

Lane seemed determined to do that again Tuesday. Soon after entering the courtroom, he peeled off a blue dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt that had the word "Killer" written on it. The room quickly became charged with tension, for Lane wore a similarly marked shirt duringthe shootings.

In a statement released later in the day, Fuhry said he was unaware of the shirt, as Lane spent most of the hearing with his back to him while listening to victims' families. Had he noticed it, Fuhry said he would have stopped the proceedings and forced Lane "to put on proper attire."

Scott Hildenbrand, chief deputy of the Geauga County Sheriff's Department, said deputies quickly confiscated the shirt once Lane returned to the jail.

Friedman told the judge the defense team urged Lane to not make a statement in court. The killer did it anyway.

The people who raised him, his grandparents Carole and Jack Nolan, appeared dumbfounded.

View full sizeSadie Lane: "The brother in the courtroom and that did this is not the brother I knew."Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer

Lane's younger sister, Sadie, spoke to reporters afterward. She offered sympathy to the families who lost their sons. She said she was in the school cafeteria when her brother began shooting.

The person "in the courtroom and who did this is not the brother I knew," she said. "It may be hard for some to understand, but I love my brother, and I hope that wherever the sentence and life takes him in the future that he can touch others' lives in a positive way from a point of view that only he can give."

Fuhry said no sentence was appropriate for what took place.

"These students were ambushed in their own school," he said.

Lane attended Lake Academy in Willoughby, an alternative school. Authorities said he fired the shots from his uncle's .22-caliber Ruger handgun as he waited for the bus that took him from Chardon High each morning. He grabbed the gun the day before the shooting.

After Lane bolted from the school, Sheriff's Deputy Jon Bilicic found him seated along Woodin Road, about a mile away. Lane told the officer that he had just shot a lot of people. When Bilicic asked him why, he said, "I don't know."

At another point when asked why, he said, "I don't really understand myself."

After the hearing, sheriff's deputies grabbed Lane and sought to slap handcuffs on him. Lane appeared to reach for the blue shirt that he wore into the courtroom.